Bensenville Man Faces Drug Charge

February 26, 1990

A 38-year-old Bensenville man who police believe single-handedly ran a major drug operation in the western suburbs near O`Hare Airport was arrested last week at the end of an 18-month-long investigation.

A sledgehammer was used to break down the apartment door of Hector Sanchez at 264 E. George St. late Wednesday night, Bensenville police Sgt. Craig Grude said.

Local investigators worked with Chicago police who had arranged to buy cocaine from the suspect through an informant, Grude said.

Sanchez was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, armed violence and unlawful use of a weapon after an extensive police search of the apartment turned up 5 grams of cocaine, a small arsenal of weapons, amunition, a gas bomb and three sticks of an explosive, police said.

Police said the suspect used various hotels in the suburbs surrounding O`Hare to run his drug business and that customers would allegedly contact him by telephone beeper before coming to a hotel to buy cocaine. Sanchez also allegedly dealt cocaine on a smaller scale through his home, while his children, ages 15 and 7, were sleeping, police said.

``He was a large-scale dealer; for him to deal a pound a week was no problem,`` said Chicago tactical officer Robert Stasch, who had been tracking Sanchez throughout the city and who contacted Bensenville police nearly two years ago when he learned where Sanchez lived.

Sanchez`s eight-unit apartment building was evacuated during the raid and the Du Page County bomb squad was called when the explosives were discovered, Grude said. In addition to an array of drug paraphernalia, police confiscated a 9 mm automatic handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .223-caliber rifle and dozens of boxes of amunition, Grude said.

Sanchez was being held at the Du Page County Jail on $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Du Page County Circuit Court on March 20, according to jail records.